Homilies on Exodus, Homilia IV
Ten plagues: summary and the puzzle of hardening§1
1The story of the ten plagues is known to the whole world: Egypt and Pharaoh are beaten with signs until a freeborn people, forced into slavery, is restored to liberty. Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent and swallows the magicians’ serpents; still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Sometimes Scripture says the heart “was hardened,” sometimes the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The careful reader must not rush past that difference.
Latin · §1
Historia famosissima: Aegyptus plagis castigata ut Hebraeos libertati redderet. Virga Aaron in draconem absorbuit dracones magorum; tamen induratum est cor Pharaonis. In pluribus plagis dicitur induratum; in aliis induravit Dominus cor Pharaonis. Haec intellectum tenent.
Divine letters demand spiritual reading§2
2If we believe these letters divine, they are written for our training, not as antique gossip. Hardening does not make God the author of evil; it discloses judgment. The same sun softens wax and hardens mud: one working, different effects according to the matter that receives it.
Latin · §2
Si divinas litteras credimus, non ut fabulae sed ut disciplinae scriptae sunt. Induratio Pharaonis non Deum auctorem mali facit, sed iudicium revelat. Sol iustos illuminat, lutum indurat — eadem operatio diversos effectus.
Magicians’ mimicry and the limits of Egypt§3
3The magicians can mimic as far as the gnats; beyond that they fail and confess “This is the finger of God”. Demonic power is finite; God’s signs increase. So the church must distinguish flashy imitation from the truth that alone liberates.
Latin · §3
Malefici usque ad scinifes aliquid imitantur; ultra non possunt. Daemonum virtus finita; Dei signa crescunt. Ecclesia discernat imitationes haereticas a veritate.
First difference: who hardens, and when§4
4We noted another difference: in earlier strokes the heart “is hardened”; when ulcers break the magicians’ stand, Scripture speaks more terribly — the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Judgment escalates as resistance deepens.
Latin · §4
Observavimus differentiam: in quibusdam plagis induratur cor, in aliis Dominus indurat. Ubi magi cessant et ulcera urgent, terribilius additur. Ordo iudicii paulatim crescit.
The Spirit that filled Moses§5
5Who is filled with the Spirit that filled Moses? Not every talkative tongue. The Spirit of wisdom and might drives God’s work against Egypt — that is, against the vices that enslave the soul.
Latin · §5
Quis ille quem repleat Deus spiritu quo Moysen? Non omnis loquax propheta. Spiritus sapientiae et fortitudinis opus Dei agit adversus Aegyptum vitiorum.
Moses sent back into Egypt§6
6Moses is sent back into Egypt to work the wonders God put in his hand. So too, if we have left Egypt in mind, we return in word to brothers still enslaved — not to make Egypt pleasant, but to call a people out.
Latin · §6
Moyses ad Aegyptum mittitur prodigia facturus. Et ego, si exii mente, redeo ad fratres adhuc servientes, verbum liberationis portans — non ut Aegyptus placeat, sed ut populus exeat.
Voices, hail, and blows from above§7
7Then come blows from above: voices, thunder, hail and fire wasting Egypt while Goshen is spared. Fear the One who turns both sky and sea to judgment — and still makes a difference for his own.
Latin · §7
Post haec verbera: voces, tonitrua, grando et ignis. Superna correptio Aegyptum vastat; iusti in Gosen discernuntur. Timendus est qui et mare et caelum ministrat iudicio.
Moral Egypt within — Homilia IV CLOSEOUT§8
8Morally Egypt is in us, and Pharaoh the princely power of vice. The plagues are God’s corrections: they soften a receiving heart and harden a resisting one. The firstborn to be put to death are sin’s first movements. Let us not harden our hearts, that the people within may go free. Amen.
Latin · §8
Moraliter: Aegyptus in nobis, Pharao princeps vitiorum. Plagae — correptiones Dei — induratum cor emolliunt si recipimus, indurant si resistimus. Primogenita exstinguenda: initia peccati. Ut populus exeat, cor non induremus. Amen.